phade

Weather.com and wunderground have different wind predictions for tomorrow...one saying SE to SSW, the other saying NNE to ENE. Big difference.

Much better pic...115ish

Pic doesn't really do any justice in being able to guess a score. Why guess when the deer is dead? Go online, pull the directions, and measure yourself before the wait to have someone else do it. Not that hard.

Sorry to hear that...it would drive me crazy to see a tree cut for a cam. Ballsy. Is the property well posted? Doc - most mid/upper level commerical cams have password protection option. Most people don't use it in my experience.

Passed up 9 in 2.5 hr sit this p.m. all does but one bb. All were shootable at one point or another but not looking for freezer fare now.

Sounds like you'll fit in with a group or a few hunters quickly.Can do attitude goes a long ways.

I'm not much on using scents. I really only use it a time or two each season in the rut and that's more or less to break up the monotony if it seems to be slow or when decoying. A kitchen sink tactic. That said, I prefer Trophy Blend - I believe they are cheaper and same style of scent dispersal. I have used the the "herd" and estrous urine version and killed a couple deer while that stuff was put out. Not saying it did help or hurt. The certainly smelled it....several does actually licked the tree it was on, but they were cautious coming into it.

We're demonstrating stupid. C'mon man, can't you see that?

Here's a buck bedding this year that we have a fair amount of intel on for this year. He likes bedding in the marsh. Cams are about 40 feet apart. Into the bed the morning of Sept. 1 (notice the time - just before sunrise - not many mornings will a buck be beat to his bed before/after rut. It happens, but rare) And the pic is a snapshot of a video of him leaving the bed the evening of September 1. We've come to determine he likely prefers wind-based beds as he can't see in the marsh areas very well and he uses satellite bucks and does bedding around him as an "alert system" so to speak. Again, the cams are 40 feet apart and the buck is bedding about 60-75 yds from the daytime shot.

Wait didn't you just say that the tactic would be in more mags if it were popular? How do you know if you don't watch alot or read much? Mr. Contradiction, indeed. Cliff notes: Infalt is a beast style pro (meaning good at it) on public ground. D'Aquisto is the man who created Lone Wolf - the stand was made precisely for bed hunting/beast style. The Mark guy is a master ground hunter in a ghillie suit who stalks to beds and kills his bucks there. Off to your weekend. I never once discount rut hunting. It is much easier, but that's not the point. The point is you can improve your odds by adding beast style tactics in and outside of the rut. Wait on a short window in the rut, or do that AND try to ambush a good buck or two based on his bedding....

A safe zone is the area around that buck's bed (that given night) in which is he comfortable being on his feet in daylight hours. In most cases, that max distance is the distance that buck will travel between the time he gets up in the evening to the point of sunset. What you aren't comprehending is that mature bucks don't often have a large area where they will be on their feet in daylight - they're sticking tight to cover, tight to their bed, and tight to the food/water they can access. This is absurdly different than young bucks and does. Again, you talk about scrape lines and food sources - most scrapes are hit at night (80-90%) and those daylight visits are going to be close to home if it's before the rut factor kicks in. Same goes with foo sources, most cases, they're pretty late into the fields. If they're feeding in the interior, they have cover and can move about, but again, they'll be close to their beds. Most people stumble on bucks because they set up near a bed unknowingly, thinking they're on a travel pattern or some food source, a funnel. Many people look at transition lines -say swamp to hardwood or hardwood to brush - and think funnel. What they don't know is that transition lines are some of the most likely buck bedding areas, allowing them vision of what they can't smell and smell of what they can't see. So, when they shoot a buck there, they think it was a "funnel action" that led that buck there. Again, you are putting words in my mouth - you said most deer are killed near there bed. No. I say most mature bucks are killed close to their bed when done before the rut factors kick in. Will a deer bed in one bed sometimes? Yes, occassionally. Many times no, but the buck will choose spots for a reason in a given area. You hunt each bed individually on most cases. Sometimes you whiff, sometimes you don't. But, as each bed is emptied/hunted, you stack the buck to the fewer remaining beds he knows and beds in. Are oblivious to people like Dan Infalt and Andrae D'Aqusito. Or, people like Mark (i forget his last name...the ghillie suit guy on the ground), and countless others. It is not exactly a little known secret. Heck, even here this month, someone posted about the article in f&s about bed hunting on Dan Infalt. I do find it funny you bash mags and what people put in there in your past posts, and then try to use that as evidence going the other way. You should look into it. It'll open your eyes to other ways of getting things done and done better.

You can't be afraid to eat tag soup. That fear of not getting "your buck" is why most people complain about 1.5s getting shot and not seeing mature bucks.

My first comment/question would be: Is that the only place you have to hunt? If so, my first and primary goal would be landing a separate other parcel or two. People undervalue having multiple places to hunt to rotate pressure and for different winds, different times of the year. Invariably, at some point, those 10 acres are pigeon-holing you in the season. Maybe early, maybe during rut, maybe late, maybe on a SE or a N wind...Why knowingly do that to yourself? For small parcels, you need to know what kind of parcel is it. Is it bedding? Is it transition? Sounds like it's not food source with the ag around you (unless you have mast/browse in big quantity) and that's a good thing imo. What are the deer movements like? What are the crops around it? When are they a primary draw? Your tactic is good if the parcel is a transition piece timed with rut action. Not every ground is going to have it when parcels are that small. What if that parcel has heavy use early with cover, but as leaves fall, they abandon it for other routes? I'm sure you know the answer by now for that parcel, but those are things to look at. My advice given a transition piece that seems to have good rut activity and no pattern on a buck at the moment. Go in and go for a homerun early - try to catch a buck moving with confidence because of the lack of pressure along the best buck travel route. Obviously hunt it with wind/access in mind. But, take that homerun shot early.Then, back out and hunt what edges you can and leave the pressure light until you can get in when sign picks up. If there's a hard break (creek that they only cross in spots, a cliff, ravine,an open field they won't access, etc.) that you can enter/leave without burning ground, you may be able to hunt it more - rare, but it does happen. Overhunting small parcels is more common because of limited ways to minimize your stink/disruption. Make each hunt count.

Never wait for the perfect shot. It doesn't exist in most cases. Take the first good clean shot. No second guessing. Get back out there and hunt. Make sure your gear is accurate shake off the cobwebs.

A mature buck has a "safe zone" around its given bed for that night. It could be 50 yards. It could be 75, etc. It's often not very big in many cases. That distance is the amount he's willing to go from his bed in daylight hours. Most often that max distance is the jaunt from his bed in the evening to the point of sunset. The key is to get right on the edge of that safe zone and intercept that buck without him knowing you are there. I firmly believe most deer that are killed prior to the seeking phase are killed close to the bed (unless out west where deer travel long open expanses), even when the hunters don't know it. So patterning a deer often means they have a buck on a schedule so to speak and in case where they don't know the bed is/are, they're 99/100x very close to it unknowingly. If you know where the bed is, your ability to setup and intercept that buck is much greater than merely "patterning a deer" without knowing the bed or at the very least the immediate bedding area. A good example is Miz10 or whatever his name is - and that pear tree. He's got daylight pics. It doesn't sound like they know where the beds are....but I bet they're close. If they could find and locate the bed, they can increase their odds for an encounter. Face it, the closer to the bed, without alerting/busting the buck, results in a higher likelihood of daylight encounters. You say you don't spend time on stuff you are skeptical of, or question. And you certainly question xbows with alot of effort and time spent doing so. All I know is that when it is legal in archery, I fully expect you to buy and hunt with one based on your comments earlier this week/last week. You are a walking contradiction.

Get 2 liter soda bottles, fill with water and freeze. much better than ice bags.

You also spend a lot of posts on xbows.

Excuses. Thats all I see. We will just differ on this.

They will blow when lung hit or hit in esophogus. Expelling blood. But sounds like you would have found that blood.

Lucky, sometimes I wish I only had 15 stands to worry about/maintain/move. Once I hit 35 I stopped counting. I know I'm north of 40. Probably good that I don't know.

Oh I fully understand that. I'm not shooting does during the week because I won't take time off to process with my work schedule. A buck, I would burn that time as I won't be taking time off for the rut as a result. The problem I think most people who are raising the flag are saying that heat is making it not worth going out because of the deer movement rather than the indian's heat intolerance.

I just don;'t get the "best" stand mentality. Sure, you have the best stand for the wind, for the entry/exit, for the time of year, etc. But there is no "best" stand to save because you hunt the best stand for the situation. You aren't saving anything. A rut funnel stand isn't a "best" stand now or in this situation. Just like an early season stand isn't going to be a "best" stand in early November. You may have a stand or two that see alot of action all season long, but again, it's probably not the best stand now because you burn ground, or have poor wind, etc. Hunt the best stand for the situation.

I don't get it. Deer still need food and water. They still move in this heat and people are reporting it. Best stand? I'm always hunting the best stand for the situation.

Beat worrying about sweating amd stinking up clothes eh? I'm going to try to get out if I can after work.

People are seeing and killing deer in this thread in higher temps.